Just saw that linked off Brad's blog - great article - I am so looking forward to seeing Andy in January after his winter training - I leave "hitting the hills" to him though, the only hill I am planning to hit is Henman hill next year

"Andy Murray has pledged to stop lack of stamina cramping his style - by gettting fit just like a gridiron star.

The 19-year-old Scot is ready to muscle in on tennis glory by pushing his body to its limits.

Murray faces another test of stamina today as he takes on Chilean Fernando Gonzalez in the third round of the US Open.

And he vowed: 'At the end of this year, I'm gonna work harder than I have ever worked before. I won't cramp again for the rest of my life. Maybe my muscles aren't as strong as they should be. I need to work harder at that. But i'm definitely gonna do that in the winter.'

He plans to spend December in Florida working out with his new coach Brad Gilbert and fitness trainer Mark Grabow.

Grabow works with basketballers and American Football players and Murray believes he can help him get as fit as the gridiron players Gilbert raves about.

Gilbert is a fitness fanatic who goes to the gym at 5am every morning. His first pledge when he took over his 685,000-a-year job was to help get Murray in prime condition.

The coach promised: 'We'll be working our asses off in the off-season.'

And Murray added: 'I want to get in perfect condition so next year I can go on court and if somebody beats me its because they played a better match than me, not because i was struggling.'

The Scot knows he will have his work cut out against Gonzalez, who is ranked eight places above him at 11 in the world, but his stunning upset win over Roger Federer in Cincinnati three weeks ago, means he fears no one.

He said: 'Now i feel i can win against the best players - it's just a matter of keeping it up at a grand slam'

The meeting has come earlier than either player would have liked - today's third-round match at Flushing Meadows between Fernando Gonzalez and Andy Murray, the second- and third-ranked players in the US Open Series points table.Apart from Andy Roddick, the winner in Cincinnati, no one has been more impressive on North American hard courts this summer than this pair, who might have been playing under each other's coach.

Not everyone credits Gilbert with humility. But Agassi does that to people. Now Murray, who idolised Agassi growing up, stands to benefit from him one step removed. It may surprise him to know that he already does some things better than Agassi did at 19 - such as taking extra time to sign autographs.

'On my days off I do it as much as possible,' Murray says, adding with his deadpan humour: 'If they stick it in your face and you just walk past them, they are not going to like you as much.'

Hurricane Andy, who has brought a depression over some of his opponents in recent weeks, will be hoping to hang around a little longer. Andy Murray says he is playing the best tennis of his life and victory in his next match could open up his quarter of the draw in his favourite Grand Slam tournament.

Murray has never doubted his own ability and the win over Federer has strengthened his self-confidence. "Before I probably thought I could beat everybody except him," Murray said. "Until you win against a guy like that there's always a bit of doubt in the back of your mind whether you can win against him. I always believed I could, but until you actually do it you never know if it's quite possible.

Asked if he had noticed a difference in the way people treated him following his meteoric rise in the rankings, he replied: "Well, here it's a little bit annoying because I'm seeded 17, and until you're seeded 16, you have to play four on a court [in practice]. Here, the practice has not been as good as I would have liked because I'm one place away from getting a full court to myself." Trust a youngster, they're never satisfied.

Murray is just the latest in a long line of players who have suffered wrist problems - Andre Agassi, Boris Becker, Kim Clijsters, Greg Rusedski and Mardy Fish have all been through the same mill.

Fish was sidelined for most of 2005 after catching a backhand fractionally late in practise and feeling something give in his left wrist. Weeks of recuperation turned into months after he came back too early and re-injured the wrist in his first tournament back. Two bouts of surgery later, he was still struggling last year.